Paperboard cartons having reclosable end panels for keeping their contents fresh are known in the art. Typically, the end panels of the carton are overlapped and glued together. Once they are opened by separating the panels, they are reclosed by interlocking these panels. A usual type of interlocking reclosure mechanism is formed by an exterior tab extending from one of the panels and a slit in the other panel which receives the tab therein.
However, using such an exterior tab on one of the panels results in numerous disadvantages. First, the protruding tab requires nesting with adjacent paperboard blanks during manufacture and therefore requires more paperboard. Secondly, in order to define the protruding tab, the manufacturing process requires multiple knife cutting which is expensive. Finally, stripping of one paperboard blank from another after the cutting has been accomplished slows down the manufacturing process.